I have decided to search an alternative to the Arduino IDE and decided to give a try to Eclipse and his Plugin. I already have a Eclipse Juno version installed for other development. As I prefer to avoid conflict I have decided to install a specific version for the Arduino development. There are two ways to install the IDE+Arduino Plugin :

If you want the last version of IDE and Plugin, then you can simply download the last “Product bundle“.

Or maybe you want to install your one Eclipse version and add the Plugin separately. In this case, follow the below instructions.

On the Plugin page the advice doesn’t recommend 1.5.7 Arduino IDE. I’m with 1.6 and I don’t know if it is supported. I have done several test : see below.

Install Eclipse plugin

As explained from the page “http://www.baeyens.it/eclipse/stable-win.html”I have to add a reference in Eclipse to the Plugin update site : “http://www.baeyens.it/eclipse/V2”. From the Eclipse menu bar Eclipse select “Help” –> “Install new software”. Select “Add” and add for the Arduino Eclipse plugin : “http://www.baeyens.it/eclipse/V2” Remark : uncheck “group items by category”

Install and restart Eclipse.

Configure Plugin.

Open the preference

Select the Arduino IDE path : Because I have IDE 1.6, it gives a warning message : The configuration is done.

First Compilation.

I have some errors in IDE and while compiling.

IDE 1.6.0. have missing folder (make file missing)

I have the following setting :

Arduino IDE patch contains the default installation.

The private patch are both empty.

Create a new sketch : It takes a long time to give the hand : this is not a good sign… I selected AVR. Then I configured the Board and the Processor. I have several errors in the editor : And the build didn’t succeed : “Arduino/core/avr-libc/subdir.mk:20: *** target pattern contains no `%’. Stop.” If I select the Board sam board, then I have other errors : “arduino/variant/subdir.mk:17: *** target pattern contains no `%’. Stop.” These messages mean that it doesn’t find a folder. Something is missing. I suppose that these errors come from the version 1.6.0 of IDE I use. As explained by the developer, I have to use IDE 1.5.5 : “Arduino IDE 1.5.5 beta works with V2.2 but you need to fix the remaining V1.5 Libraries (see library madness)” Also here where they explain I need IDE Arduino 1.5.2 or 1.5.5 (NOT 1.5.4 !!!). So I Unzip IDE 1.5.5 and adapted the preference in Eclipse : Also in Project, you have to adapt : After this, it compiles without problem and I’m able to download the µP.

IDE 1.6.0 : correct the missing folder.

Remark : If you copy the folder “\arduino-1.5.5-r2\hardware\tools\avr\utils\” to “\Arduino-160\hardware\tools\avr\utils\” then it will compile too. But, I have other issue while I try to download (it takes a lot of time).

Teensy module.

If you want to use Teensy module, then there are very good explanations here. I do it slightly differently because a new version of Teensyduino exist for IDE 1.6.0. So, I try to install on IDE 1.6.0 and then copy the folder from 1.6.0 to 1.5.5 (Because Eclipse isn’t compatible with IDE 1.6.0). Select the folder where IDE 1.6 is installed : After the install, the following Folder has been created :

Remark : I also installed the libraries and are available under : “\Arduino-160\hardware\teensy\avr\libraries\” Because I need to use Arduino IDE 1.5.5, I suppose that I can simply copy the structure above from IDE 1.6.0 to 1.5.5 Then, it is possible to select the Teensy Hardware in project : I create a new Sketch (empty) and it compile I also installed Teensy as described by trippylighting. So I have two possibilities in project : It compile too :

1. Serial Monitor

Connect the FTDI module to a USB port and check in Device Manager :

Then in eclipse add a port :

Rename a project

If you rename the project, then you won’t be able to compile any more.

Then you will find unresolved definition :

To solve this it is necessary to change the project properties : include folder